AHS: NYC's first teaser finds the fright in overstimulation

Anyone who struggles to focus knows it well: there can be few things more frightening than way too much going on. In a first teaser for AHS:NYC, the eleventh installment in Ryan Murphy’s horror anthology series, overstimulating circumstances are the main big bad, whether in a thumping nightclub or a seedy subway station.

Although plot details on the series remain under wraps, the neon-drenched teaser indicates that the BDSM clubbing scene will take a front seat. In the teaser (which, in standard early-AHS-promotion fashion, has no dialogue) the camera weaves its way through padded pleasure rooms and of course an abandoned subway or two (this is New York City, after all.)

The clip also promises AHS:NYC will chronicle “the most dangerous year” in “a season like no other.” Any further specifics on what that may mean remain undisclosed, but it’s hard not to swing at some guesses. One frontrunner for an era setting has become the 1980s— between the club kid aesthetic and the fact that 1981 is one of New York’s most violent years on record, the decade makes sense with the promotional imagery FX has been touting so far. Really, though, it’s hard to know what Murphy has in mind until it’s actually onscreen — too much speculation can quickly become a fool’s game.

One aspect of the series that has been confirmed, however, is the cast. AHS veterans Zachary Quinto, Patti LuPone, Denis O’Hare, Billie Lourd, Leslie Grossman, and Isaac Powell will all return, and be joined by some new faces as well. Those include Ratched’s Charlie Carver, Pose’s Sandra Bernhard, Being Human’s Russell Tovey, and The Boys In The Band director Joe Mantello.

AHS:NYC premieres Wednesday, October 19 at 10 P.M. E.T.